Teaching and learning with AI – Taskforce “Artificial intelligence in education” presents recommendations to the government of North Rhine-Westphalia

“We need to understand AI as a tool and make the functionalities behind the technology comprehensible for society”

On July 2 in Düsseldorf, the task force “Artificial Intelligence in Education” presented recommendations to the state government on how a responsible and sustainable approach to artificial intelligence should be shaped in schools, universities and vocational training. Patron Nathanael Liminski, Minister for Federal and European Affairs, International Affairs and Media and Head of the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia, Science Minister Ina Brandes and Schools and Education Minister Dorothee Feller accepted the recommendations from the task force coordinators Prof. Dr. Michael Baurmann (Founding Director of the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS)) and Prof. Dr. Christiane Eilders (CAIS Director). KI.NRW was part of the task force alongside other contributors such as the Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence and the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS.

The recommendation paper includes practical proposals for state policy measures for the responsible integration of AI in schools, universities and vocational training. The task force is made up of academics from the educational and social sciences and computer science, representatives from the relevant state ministries, the state administration and educational practitioners.

Nathanael Liminski thanked the task force for its work during the handover: “Since ChatGPT at the latest, everyone has been talking about artificial intelligence and the abbreviation AI has become a fixed term. It is up to us to take advantage of the opportunities and at the same time set ethical boundaries. In order to help shape this technical evolution and weigh up the risks, it is necessary to understand how it works. The results of the ‘Artificial Intelligence in Education’ task force contribute significantly to ensuring that AI education extends beyond the classroom and into higher and vocational training. AI affects all areas of life, so it is only logical that cross-departmental and interdisciplinary work has been carried out here in order to do justice to the wide range of the topic. As a Minister for Media and a father, I am equally concerned about how AI threatens to blur the boundaries between fact and fiction. The results of the task force reinforce our course of continuing to strengthen media education in North Rhine-Westphalia in all age groups in order to be able to distinguish between fake news and truth, between dubious and trustworthy.”

“In an intensive and detailed exchange between science and practice, we have drawn up a recommendation paper on how a reflective and competent integration of AI into teaching and learning processes can be promoted along the education chain. We are now looking forward to seeing how politicians take up our proposals,” says Michael Baurmann.

Also participating in the task force was Dr. Christian Temath, Managing Director of the North Rhine-Westphalian competence platform for artificial intelligence KI.NRW. He emphasizes: “Artificial intelligence holds many opportunities for our economy and can also help with the big issues, such as saving energy and resources, digitizing administrative processes or controlling complex traffic and logistics flows. For this to succeed, we need to understand AI as a tool and make the functionalities behind the technology comprehensible to society. It is of crucial importance that AI is used intelligently in schools and universities. This recommendation paper provides important impetus in this regard. At the same time, the rapid developments in the field of artificial intelligence with their ever-shorter innovation cycles show us that we also need to break new ground in vocational training. Appropriate measures are also required for employees in companies to support regular qualifications and structured on-the-job training. The recommendation paper is therefore an excellent basis for discussing holistic approaches to ‘lifelong learning’ as a next step.”

Five packages of measures for education address the state government
The recommendation paper contains five central and cross-sectoral packages of measures. These include the establishment of legal certainty, the implementation of permanent AI training for all areas of education, the development and testing of good practices and standards, secure access to AI applications and the establishment and promotion of an “AI in education” competence network that integrates the scientific expertise available in NRW and institutionalizes dialogue and cooperation between research, educational practice, educational policy and educational administration.

Recommendations for the school sector
For the school sector, the task force recommends, among other things, supporting further training through the development of science-based formats in which basic AI knowledge is taught, teaching materials are provided and further qualifications are offered for teachers, subject leaders and digitization officers. In a further recommendation, the development and testing of examination formats for the AI-supported assessment of learning achievements and skills is proposed in cooperation between educational practice and science.

Minister of Education Dorothee Feller thanked the members of the task force and explained: “North Rhine-Westphalia was the first federal state to support schools with guidelines for dealing with AI. Since then, we have been working intensively on this topic together with the other federal states. The task force’s recommendations give us a boost. They address many important points that we are already working on. We will now carefully evaluate the proposals, because one thing is clear: the topic of artificial intelligence will occupy our schools intensively in the future. We want to use the new technology in such a way that it continues to improve teaching and learning.”

Recommendations for the university sector
The sustainable development of further training opportunities in the field of AI, particularly for university didactics, and the development of prototypes of digital learning environments are also key for the higher education sector. In addition, shared access options for AI systems should be provided. Access to selected commercial applications should also be possible in the short term, preferably as part of state solutions. An open source infrastructure is to be established by combining expertise.

Ina Brandes, Minister of Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, says: “Artificial intelligence is already an integral part of our everyday lives and at our universities. I am certain that AI will help us in many areas to make people’s lives more pleasant and better – including with new, efficient teaching and learning methods that are individually tailored to students. At the same time, the rapid development of AI is accompanied by ethical challenges. This is another reason why we, as the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, are investing in AI research in order to create a counterweight to the large American corporations, for whom ethical considerations are not a priority.”

Recommendations for the area of advanced training in the public interest
The heterogeneity of learners and teachers poses major challenges in adult education. They must be addressed differently in order to strengthen them in their personal development and qualify them for social participation and employment. The task force therefore recommends determining the specific needs of the respective target groups based on the NRW media literacy framework in order to develop and implement appropriately adapted advanced training for learners and advanced training for teachers. This includes the development of science-based training courses for teaching, planning and administrative staff, e.g. for qualification as “AI training officers” (“train-the-trainer”). The task force also reaffirms the consistent implementation of the recommendations and measures listed in the KMK position paper on the “Digital Continuing Education Initiative”, in particular the development of modern and future-proof digital infrastructure and the necessary equipment for continuing education institutions.

The complete recommendation paper with detailed measures and proposals for action is available here (DE).

Picture: Land NRW / Florian Hemann